Exclusive Audio: Todd Haynes on "I'm Not There"

The latest issue of Rolling Stone features Greil Marcus' in-depth Q&A with Todd Haynes, director of I'm Not There — the new film in which six different actors portray Bob Dylan. The interview was originally conducted before an audience at the Telluride Film Festival, the day after I'm Not There premiered. Below, check out audio excerpts from the interview:

Haynes talks about the concept of identity in his films — including Dylan's status as identity-changer, and how the Sixties may have marked been the beginning of a national "identity crisis."

Haynes talks about the idea of "queerness" in his films, touching on both Andy Warhol and Pentecostal fundamentalist Christianity.

Marcus and Haynes answer an audience question about the role of Dylan's music in the film.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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